…what Lisa cooked.

Bacon, Cheese & Tomato Pasta Bake

It’s three years (and one day) since I registered for WordPress. I looked at a couple of my very early posts and thankfully it has evolved a bit since then.

And talking of anniversaries, it is 20 years since Jarvis Cocker stormed Michael Jackson’s set at the Brits. Which means it is 20 years since I went to see Pulp at the Sheffield Arena. I remember him walking out holding a copy of the Sun newspaper, of which he commanded the front page (and probably a few pages within I would imagine. The British media know how to milk a story). It’s also 20 years since Trainspotting was released. Twenty years though? Without sounding like my Nan, where does time go?

On 22nd February 2016, This was Dinner…

I was so hungry today. We went and did some work at Unbloq yesterday and before we knew it, it was 3.30pm and we hadn’t eaten a sausage. (Or a slice of toast for that matter.) We ended up buying a ready roasted chicken from Morrisons and making a chicken and chorizo sandwich. The problem was this was my first bread for a while and it filled me until about 9.30pm when I was ready to eat again but by then it was too late.

I resisted the urge to get a takeaway on Monday night and made this pasta bake instead. This is originally a Bill Granger dish but I changed it up a little bit. The bacon is actually pancetta and the cheese is not just any old cheese, it’s the delicious (and a personal favourite of mine) taleggio.

Get set…

Preheat the oven to 190°c (fan)

Finely chop an onion

Break up some taleggio

Quarter some cherry tomatoes

Grate some cheddar

Get pasta, milk, plain flour, butter, oil & seasoning ready

Throw it together…

Cook the pasta (I used shells) until al dente, drain and set aside.

Heat up a frying pan and add the pancetta and cook until starting to crisp. Add the onion and cook until softened.

Add the butter to the pan and melt. Add the flour to the pan and stir well. Gradually add in the milk to create a sauce. Season and add the taleggio.

Stir the pancetta mixture through the pasta, along with the tomatoes and add to a baking dish.

Pop in the oven for 10 minutes then remove and add the cheddar and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.